Scurrminator wrote:This image explains it better than I can.
They aren't from the same timeline.

That timeline pic helpfully illustrates my point. How does young Joe killing himself in timeline C kill Old Joe from timeline B?

Edit: spoilers hidden above, obv.

Look at where ALL of the old Joe's come from - one person.

Look at the point at which the relevant Old Joe splits off from the Young Joe - before the red X. The Old Joe's timeline from then on is unbroken until mysteriously at the end it stops because of someone he doesn't derive from, and never was, killing himself.

See my pic, and where the red X needs to be for this to be logical (or of course anywhere before the split).

There doesn't need to be an X in the second timeline as that's the one where Old Joe 'escapes' and in doing so creates the third timeline.
All of the Old Joe's still derive from the one young Joe in that original timeline. If you follow all the old Joe lines they all go back to timeline A and young Joe.
Didn't say it wasn't messy but that's the rules they use in the film

LeoliansBro wrote:
Aliens Director's Cut is the winner or 'Film Most Improved by the New Additions / Changes' (narrowly edging out Bladerunner).

Always felt the DC additions ruin the build up of initial tension, and the feeling of being up against it throughout. As for Mr Paxton's rant, *cringe*. Then there's the logistical side, based off the population, that's thrown out the window.....

Alien 3 is a weird one. There are some scenes in the AC that really should be included, but others that seem to over-explain things for the sake of explaining them, even though I understood perfectly what the score was without them. I'm thinking of "it was the dragon" guy, appearing coated in blood. They suspect him, Ripley and us know it was the xeno, but hell, let's implicitly show it was the xeno in the AC, JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T CATCH THAT, mmmkay.
Got it first time, thanks.

It's the effect of the sentries' camera views, with the impression reinforced by the ammo counts and comments. 158 minus casualties doesn't leave a lot of hosts. It also ruins the "intelligence" aspect, as before they killed the power and just snuck in, whereas with the DC it gives the impression they were just avoiding the guns after stupid attempts to overrun them, giving up just as they run dry ? Please.

Hmmm, assuming some colonists died in battles or acid flying around that'd still leave 100+ warriors...
Say some 20 died when the marines walked in that still leaves 80+ (and the newly cocooned marines) for the guns...They actually do overrun the first sentries too, but hit on the pressure door...

They just used their favourite access tunnel and got surprised, found a new access and after too many bullets said "fuck that"...
The guns dry out quite quickly...And even then how many did they kill? Less than 80 I'd say...

meme wrote:
The population vs total alien count can be explained by the fact there's a Space Jockey ship sat there on the planet. It's feasible there could have been hundreds more xenomorphs inside the ship.

From what hosts ? Kane just happened to wake them up during his stumble ? Arguing for 60 years that one of them definitely heard something.....

See, that's why I liked the guns. It showed the aliens learning from experience.

And that individual death didn't matter to them.

So they'd sacrifice a significant chunk of the colony for a lesser number of hosts ? Suicide charge despite avoiding direct attacks earlier ? 2000 rounds with few deaths ? Naaaah. I'll stick to the softly, softly, catchee monkey intellect. Much more menacing. You could argue that there's a lull between the processor battle and later action, but it's a 20min+ drive away, through the tunnel, and then figuring out/battering a way through the resealed areas.

Interesting tidbit is the fact that the power cut was initially attributed to the xenos' shutting down the guns......despite the fact they run on battery packs.

The DC also ruins the surprise of the queen, comparing it to a bee colony- "Yes, the mama. She's badass, man. I mean, big." Cheers for spoiling that.

meme wrote:
The population vs total alien count can be explained by the fact there's a Space Jockey ship sat there on the planet. It's feasible there could have been hundreds more xenomorphs inside the ship.

From what hosts ? Kane just happened to wake them up during his stumble ? Arguing for 60 years that one of them definitely heard something.....

I dunno, from whatever planet the Space Jockeys carpetbombed previously. It's not outside the realm of possibility for them to carry xenos in hibernation deeper in the craft. Which could have been woken by the atmospheric processor being switched on, or indeed the creation of the alien hive and the birth of a new queen, as it's pretty unsubtly suggested that the xenos are telepathically linked.

Point is that there are reasonable explanations for the sheer number of aliens that make sense within the universe itself. Another one being that perhaps the sign for Hadley's Hope was horrendously out of date with regards to population.